THESCHOOLFORSCANDAL文学意识流爱尔兰戏剧

1、THE SCHOOL FOR SCANDALA COMEDYA PORTRAITADDRESSED TO MRS. CREWE, WITH THE COMEDY OF THE SCHOOL FOR SCANDALBY R. B. SHERIDAN, ESQ.Tell me, ye prim adepts in Scandals school,Who rail by precept, and detract by rule,Lives there no character, so tried, so known,So deckd with grace, and so unlike your ow

2、n,That even you assist her fame to raise,Approve by envy, and by silence praise!Attend!a model shall attract your viewDaughters of calumny, I summon you!You shall decide if this a portrait prove,Or fond creation of the Muse and Love.Attend, ye virgin critics, shrewd and sage,Ye matron censors of thi

3、s childish age,Whose peering eye and wrinkled front declareA fixt antipathy to young and fair;By cunning, cautious; or by nature, cold,In maiden madness, virulently bold!Attend! ye skilled to coin the precious tale,Creating proof, where innuendos fail!Whose practised memories, cruelly exact,Omit no

4、circumstance, except the fact!Attend, all ye who boast,or old or young,The living libel of a slanderous tongue!So shall my theme as far contrasted be,As saints by fiends, or hymns by calumny.Come, gentle Amoret (for neath that name,In worthier verse is sung thy beautys fame);Comefor but thee who see

5、ks the Muse? and whileCelestial blushes check thy conscious smile,With timid grace, and hesitating eye,The perfect model, which I boast, supply:Vain Muse! couldst thou the humblest sketch createOf her, or slightest charm couldst imitateCould thy blest strain in kindred colours traceThe faintest wond

6、er of her form and facePoets would study the immortal line,And REYNOLDS own HIS art subdued by thine;That art, which well might added lustre giveTo Natures best and Heavens superlative:On GRANBYS cheek might bid new glories rise,Or point a purer beam from DEVONS eyes!Hard is the task to shape that b

7、eautys praise,Whose judgment scorns the homage flattery pays!But praising Amoret we cannot err,No tongue oervalues Heaven, or flatters her!Yet she, by Fates perversenessshe aloneWould doubt our truth, nor deem such praise her own!Adorning Fashion, unadornd by dress,Simple from taste, and not from ca

8、relessness;Discreet in gesture, in deportment mild,Not stiff with prudence, nor uncouthly wild:No state has AMORET! no studied mien;She frowns no GODDESS, and she moves no QUEEN.The softer charm that in her manner liesIs framed to captivate, yet not surprise;It justly suits th expression of her face

9、,Tis less than dignity, and more than grace!On her pure cheek the native hue is such,That, formd by Heavn to be admired so much,The hand divine, with a less partial care,Might well have fixd a fainter crimson there,And bade the gentle inmate of her breast,Inshrined Modesty!supply the rest.But who th

10、e peril of her lips shall paint?Strip them of smilesstill, still all words are faint!But moving Love himself appears to teachTheir action, though denied to rule her speech;And thou who seest her speak and dost not hear,Mourn not her distant accents scape thine ear;Viewing those lips, thou still mays

11、t make pretenceTo judge of what she says, and swear tis sense:Clothd with such grace, with such expression fraught,They move in meaning, and they pause in thought!But dost thou farther watch, with charmd surprise,The mild irresolution of her eyes,Curious to mark how frequent they repose,In brief ecl

12、ipse and momentary closeAh! seest thou not an ambushd Cupid there,Too timrous of his charge, with jealous careVeils and unveils those beams of heavnly light,Too full, too fatal else, for mortal sight?Nor yet, such pleasing vengeance fond to meet,In pardning dimples hope a safe retreat.What though he

13、r peaceful breast should neer allowSubduing frowns to arm her altered brow,By Love, I swear, and by his gentle wiles,More fatal still the mercy of her smiles!Thus lovely, thus adornd, possessing allOf bright or fair that can to woman fall,The height of vanity might well be thoughtPrerogative in her,

14、 and Natures fault.Yet gentle AMORET, in mind supremeAs well as charms, rejects the vainer theme;And, half mistrustful of her beautys store,She barbs with wit those darts too keen before:Read in all knowledge that her sex should reach,Though GREVILLE, or the MUSE, should deign to teach,Fond to impro

15、ve, nor timrous to discernHow far it is a womans grace to learn;In MILLARS dialect she would not proveApollos priestess, but Apollos love,Graced by those signs which truth delights to own,The timid blush, and mild submitted tone:Whateer she says, though sense appear throughout,Displays the tender hu

16、e of female doubt;Deckd with that charm, how lovely wit appears,How graceful SCIENCE, when that robe she wears!Such too her talents, and her bent of mind,As speak a sprightly heart by thought refined:A taste for mirth, by contemplation schoold,A turn for ridicule, by candour ruled,A scorn of folly,

17、which she tries to hide;An awe of talent, which she owns with pride!Peace, idle Muse! no more thy strain prolong,But yield a theme thy warmest praises wrong;Just to her merit, though thou canst not raiseThy feeble verse, behold th acknowledged praiseHas spread conviction through the envious train,An

18、d cast a fatal gloom oer Scandals reign!And lo! each pallid hag, with blisterd tongue,Mutters assent to all thy zeal has sungOwns all the colours justthe outline true;Thee my inspirer, and my MODELCREWE!DRAMATIS PERSONAESIR PETER TEAZLE Mr. KingSIR OLIVER SURFACE Mr. YatesYOUNG SURFACE Mr. PalmerCHA

19、RLES (his Brother) Mr. SmithCRABTREE Mr. ParsonsSIR BENJAMIN BACKBITE Mr. DoddROWLEY Mr. AikinSPUNGEMOSESSNAKECARELESSand other companions to CHARLESLADY TEAZLE MARIA LADY SNEERWELL MRS. CANDOUR MISS VERJUICEPROLOGUEWRITTEN BY MR. GARRICKA school for Scandal! tell me, I beseech you,Needs there a sch

20、ool this modish art to teach you?No need of lessons now, the knowing think;We might as well be taught to eat and drink.Caused by a dearth of scandal, should the vapoursDistress our fair oneslet them read the papers;Their powerful mixtures such disorders hit;Crave what you willtheres quantum sufficit

21、.Lord! cries my Lady Wormwood (who loves tattle,And puts much salt and pepper in her prattle),Just risen at noon, all night at cards when threshingStrong tea and scandalBless me, how refreshing!Give me the papers, Lisphow bold and free! Sips.LAST NIGHT LORD L. Sips WAS CAUGHT WITH LADY D.For aching

22、heads what charming sal volatile! Sips.IF MRS. B. WILL STILL CONTINUE FLIRTING,WE HOPE SHELL draw, OR WELL undraw THE CURTAIN.Fine satire, pozin public all abuse it,But, by ourselves Sips, our praise we cant refuse it.Now, Lisp, read youthere, at that dash and star:Yes, maamA CERTAIN LORD HAD BEST B

23、EWARE,WHO LIVES NOT TWENTY MILES FROM GROSVENOR SQUARE;FOR, SHOULD HE LADY W. FIND WILLING,WORMWOOD IS BITTEROh! thats me! the villain!Throw it behind the fire, and never moreLet that vile paper come within my door.Thus at our friends we laugh, who feel the dart;To reach our feelings, we ourselves m

24、ust smart.Is our young bard so young, to think that heCan stop the full spring-tide of calumny?Knows he the world so little, and its trade?Alas! the devils sooner raised than laid.So strong, so swift, the monster theres no gagging:Cut Scandals head off, still the tongue is wagging.Proud of your smil

25、es once lavishly bestowd,Again our young Don Quixote takes the road;To show his gratitude he draws his pen,And seeks his hydra, Scandal, in his den.For your applause all perils he would throughHell fightthats writea cavalliero true,Till every drop of bloodthats inkis spilt for you.ACT ISCENE I.LADY

26、SNEERWELLS HouseLADY SNEERWELL at her dressing table with LAPPET;MISS VERJUICE drinking chocolateLADY SNEERWELL. The Paragraphs you say were all inserted:VERJUICE. They were Madamand as I copied them myself in a feignedHand there can be no suspicion whence they came.LADY SNEERWELL. Did you circulate

27、 the Report of Lady BrittlesIntrigue with Captain Boastall?VERJUICE. Madam by this Time Lady Brittle is the Talk of half theTownand I doubt not in a week the Men will toast her as a Demirep.LADY SNEERWELL. What have you done as to the insinuation as to a certain Baronets Lady and a certain Cook.VERJ

28、UICE. That is in as fine a Train as your Ladyship could wish. I told the story yesterday to my own maid with directions to communicate it directly to my Hairdresser. He I am informed has a Brother who courts a Milliners Prentice in Pallmall whose mistress has a first cousin whose sister is Feme Femm

29、e de Chambre to Mrs. Clackitso that in the common course of Things it must reach Mrs. Clackits Ears within four-and-twenty hours and then you know the Business is as good as done.LADY SNEERWELL. Why truly Mrs. Clackit has a very pretty Talent a great deal of industryyetyesbeen tolerably successful i

30、n her wayTo my knowledge she has been the cause of breaking off six matches, of three sons being disinherited and four Daughters being turned out of Doors. Of three several Elopements, as many close confinementsnine separate maintenances and two Divorces. nay I have more than once traced her causing

31、 a Tete-a-Tete in the Town and Country Magazinewhen the Parties perhaps had never seen each others Faces before in the course of their Lives.VERJUICE. She certainly has Talents.LADY SNEERWELL. But her manner is gross.VERJUICE. Tis very true. She generally designs well, has a free tongue and a bold i

32、nventionbut her colouring is too dark and her outline often extravagantShe wants that delicacy of Tintand mellowness of sneerwhich distinguish your Ladyships Scandal.LADY SNEERWELL. Ah you are Partial Verjuice.VERJUICE. Not in the leasteverybody allows that Lady Sneerwell can do more with a word or

33、a Look than many can with the most laboured Detail even when they happen to have a little truth on their side to support it.LADY SNEERWELL. Yes my dear Verjuice. I am no Hypocrite to deny the satisfaction I reap from the Success of my Efforts. Wounded myself, in the early part of my Life by the enve

34、nomed Tongue of Slander I confess I have since known no Pleasure equal to the reducing others to the Level of my own injured Reputation.VERJUICE. Nothing can be more naturalBut my dear Lady SneerwellThere is one affair in which you have lately employed me, wherein,I confess I am at a Loss to guess y

35、our motives.LADY SNEERWELL. I conceive you mean with respect to my neighbour,Sir Peter Teazle, and his FamilyLappet.And has my conductin this matter really appeared to you so mysterious?Exit MAID.VERJUICE. Entirely so.LADY SNEERWELL. VERJUICE.? An old Batchelor as Sir Peter was, having taken a young

36、 wife from out of the Countryas Lady Teazle isare certainly fair subjects for a little mischievous raillery but here are two young mento whom Sir Peter has acted as a kind of Guardian since their Fathers death, the eldest possessing the most amiable Character and universally well spoken of, the youn

37、gest the most dissipated and extravagant young Fellow in the Kingdom, without Friends or caracterthe former one an avowed admirer of yours and apparently your Favourite, the latter attached to Maria Sir Peters wardand confessedly beloved by her. Now on the face of these circumstances it is utterly u

38、naccountable to me why you a young Widow with no great jointureshould not close with the passion of a man of such character and expectations as Mr. Surfaceand more so why you should be so uncommonly earnest to destroy the mutual Attachment subsisting between his Brother Charles and Maria.LADY SNEERW

39、ELL. Then at once to unravel this misteryI must inform you that Love has no share whatever in the intercourse between Mr. Surface and me.VERJUICE. No!LADY SNEERWELL. His real attachment is to Maria or her Fortune but finding in his Brother a favoured Rival, He has been obliged to mask his Pretension

40、sand profit by my Assistance.VERJUICE. Yet still I am more puzzled why you should interest yourself in his success.LADY SNEERWELL. Heavens! how dull you are! cannot you surmise the weakness which I hitherto, thro shame have concealed even from youmust I confess that Charlesthat Libertine, that extra

41、vagant, that Bankrupt in Fortune and Reputationthat He it is for whom I am thus anxious and malicious and to gain whom I would sacrificeeverythingVERJUICE. Now indeedyour conduct appears consistent and I no longer wonder at your enmity to Maria, but how came you and Surface so confidential?LADY SNEE

42、RWELL. For our mutual interestbut I have found out him a long time since, altho He has contrived to deceive everybody besideI know him to be artful selfish and malicious while with Sir Peter, and indeed with all his acquaintance, He passes for a youthful Miracle of Prudencegood sense and Benevolence

43、.VERJUICE. Yes yesI know Sir Peter vows He has not his equal in England; and, above all, He praises him as a MAN OF SENTIMENT.LADY SNEERWELL. True and with the assistance of his sentiments and hypocrisy he has brought Sir Peter entirely in his interests with respect to Maria and is now I believe att

44、empting to flatter Lady Teazle into the same good opinion towards himwhile poor Charles has no Friend in the Housethough I fear he has a powerful one in Marias Heart, against whom we must direct our schemes.SERVANT. Mr. Surface.LADY SNEERWELL. Shew him up. He generally calls about this Time.I dont w

45、onder at Peoples giving him to me for a Lover.Enter SURFACESURFACE. My dear Lady Sneerwell, how do you do to-dayyour most obedient.LADY SNEERWELL. Miss Verjuice has just been arraigning me on our mutual attachment now; but I have informed her of our real views and the Purposes for which our Geniuses

46、 at present co-operate. You know how useful she has been to usand believe me the confidence is not ill-placed.SURFACE. Madam, it is impossible for me to suspect that a Lady ofMiss Verjuices sensibility and discernmentLADY SNEERWELL. Wellwellno compliments nowbut tell me when you saw your mistress or

47、 what is more material to me your Brother.SURFACE. I have not seen either since I saw youbut I can inform you that they are at present at Variancesome of your stories have taken good effect on Maria.LADY SNEERWELL. Ah! my dear Verjuice the merit of this belongs to you. But do your Brothers Distresse

48、s encrease?SURFACE. Every hour. I am told He had another execution in his house yesterdayin short his Dissipation and extravagance exceed anything I have ever heard of.LADY SNEERWELL. Poor Charles!SURFACE. True Madamnotwithstanding his Vices one cant help feeling for himah poor Charles! Im sure I wi

49、sh it was in my Power to be of any essential Service to himfor the man who does not share in the Distresses of a Brothereven though merited by his own misconductdeservesLADY SNEERWELL. O Lud you are going to be moral, and forget that you are among Friends.SURFACE. Egad, thats trueIll keep that senti

50、ment till I seeSir Peter. However it is certainly a charity to rescue Maria fromsuch a Libertine whoif He is to be reclaimd, can be so only by aPerson of your Ladyships superior accomplishments and understanding.VERJUICE. Twould be a Hazardous experiment.SURFACE. ButMadamlet me caution you to place

51、no more confidence in our Friend Snake the LibellerI have lately detected him in frequent conference with old Rowland Rowley who was formerly my Fathers Steward and has never been a friend of mine.LADY SNEERWELL. Im not disappointed in Snake, I never suspected the fellow to have virtue enough to be

52、faithful even to his own Villany.Enter MARIAMaria my dearhow do you dowhats the matter?MARIA. O here is that disagreeable lover of mine, Sir BenjaminBackbite, has just calld at my guardians with his odiousUncle Crabtreeso I slipt out and ran hither to avoid them.LADY SNEERWELL. Is that all?VERJUICE.

53、 Lady SneerwellIll go and write the Letter I mentiond to you.SURFACE. If my Brother Charles had been of the Party, madam, perhaps you would not have been so much alarmed.LADY SNEERWELL. Nay nowyou are severe for I dare swear the Truth of the matter is Maria heard YOU were herebut my dearwhat has Sir

54、 Benjamin done that you should avoid him soMARIA. Oh He has done nothingbut his conversation is a perpetualLibel on all his Acquaintance.SURFACE. Aye and the worst of it is there is no advantage in not knowing Them, for Hell abuse a stranger just as soon as his best Friendand Crabtree is as bad.LADY

55、 SNEERWELL. Nay but we should make allowanceSir Benjamin is a wit and a poet.MARIA. For my PartI own madamwit loses its respect with me, when I see it in company with malice.What do you think, Mr. Surface?SURFACE. Certainly, Madam, to smile at the jest which plants a Thorn on anothers Breast is to b

56、ecome a principal in the mischief.LADY SNEERWELL. Pshawtheres no possibility of being witty without a little ill naturethe malice of a good thing is the Barb that makes it stick.Whats your opinion, Mr. Surface?SURFACE. Certainly madamthat conversation where the Spirit ofRaillery is suppressed will e

57、ver appear tedious and insipidMARIA. Well Ill not debate how far Scandal may be allowable but in a man I am sure it is always contemtable.We have Pride, envy, Rivalship, and a Thousand motives to depreciate each other but the male-slanderer must have the cowardice of a woman before He can traduce one.LADY SNEERWELL. I wish my Cousin Verjuice hadnt left usshe should embrace you.SURFACE. Ah! shes an old ma